What Makes an Artisan Chocolate Artisan?
Posted in:
Opinion
It is interesting reading all your comments. I am an artisanal chocolatier and I have to ask myself, what exactly does that mean?At what point in my own efforts to speed up production will I cross that line? Do I hire more people or buy more machines? It is hard. We chocolatiers desperately need to sell more truffles, in order to stay in business, but we love touching the chocolate, working with our hands, seeing the smiles on our employees faces as they experience the magic of it all.I think it is possible that the intrinsic love for the chocolate, for the process, for the magic is what will always keep me in the artisanal chocolate business. I may add a few machines to cut high labor cost, but I will always use fresh cream and small batch processes.To add to the discussion, or further it in some way. I think that when a chocolatier begins to use shelf like extenders, substituting vital ingredients, like cream with corn syrup - they are crossing that line - being more concerned about shelf life than the true nature of the product that they are selling. That is what says "mass market" to me.
